Tuesday October 19, 2010

Today was departure day from Denver. Jenn drove me to pick up the rental car which ended up being from an agency half way across town (we had trouble finding an agency with a one way rental for a reasonable price). I was supposed to get a Ford Fusion but when we pulled in, I did not see any on the lot. It ended up we were given an upgrade to an SUV which looked like a good deal given the amount of stuff we will be carting around for six weeks. The only issue might be that the four hamsters that are on the wheel under the hood of the Santa Fe may not last for the duration of our trip! We got loaded and departed Highlands Ranch shortly before noon.


Our first stop was Dillon Lake, just west of the Continental Divide. This lake is at the 9,100 foot elevation.


It is also home to the highest Yacht Club in North America.


After lunch, we did a bit of a detour from the Interstate and took one of the "Scenic Byways" to the town of Leadville.


We also encountered our first snowplow and snow!


We arrived at Leadville around 2:30 pm and enquired at the Chamber of Commerce as to what would be good to see if we had an hour or so. We were promptly told the only thing open was the Mining Museum was the only thing open in town so off we went to look at some rocks. It was actually fairly interesting with some good displays. (By the way, they mined silver and gold in Leadville, not lead)



Downtown Leadville was a bit of a flashback to the 40's & 50's but it was quite colourful. Leadville is also home to the highest golf course in the USA but it was closed for the season. Imagine how far you could hit a ball at 10,100 ft elevation!


We had another "Scenic Byway" drive north from Leadville to Vail where we met up with Jenn, Aaron and the grandkids at Aaron's CEO's condo which we got to use for a few days.